Under new coach, Wild look like the same old team

When the Minnesota Wild fired Mike Yeo and replaced him with John Torchetti on February 14, the goal was simple. A year after consecutive semifinal appearances, the Wild wished to take a step forward rather than a step back.

Yeo didn’t appear to be the man for that job, guiding the team to a 23-22-10 record, good for 11th out of the 14 teams in the Western Conference.

John Torchetti took over for Yeo, and immediately they began playing better hockey. Yeo’s final 19 games resulted in a 3-12-4 span, while Torchetti’s first four games as head coach resulted in Wild victories. One of the four games was a 6-1 drubbing of the Chicago Blackhawks outdoors, a contest that gave Wild fans newfound hope.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, the four game winning streak was quickly followed up by a three game losing streak, a stretch reminiscent of Yeo’s 2015-16 tenure. The overall record of 10-6-1 with Torchetti as coach has been an improvement over Yeo’s 23-22-10 mark, but an inability to take a major leap forward has continued to plague the Wild.

The Wild remain on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, largely due to the same problems that plagued the team with Yeo at the helm.

As shown above, the Wild remain an average team, struggling to outplay the competition, but not being rolled over. Considering their statistics, the ninth spot in the Western Conference appears to fit perfectly.

John Torchetti was brought in to take a team that was not playing up to expectations and help them take the next step, but he has only been able to improve the team’s performance minimally. Their improved PDO merely reflects a slight improvement in combined save percentage and shooting percentage, which is notoriously fickle.

It’s likely this number will lower again, and Minnesota will need to make up for the difference with their on ice performance.

The Wild’s 1.62 even strength goals per game under Yeo has improved to a 1.94 mark with Torchetti, but Torchetti’s Wild have surrendered 1.64 goals per game compared to Yeo’s Wild allowing 1.54 per game.

For every positive Torchetti has brought to the organization, there has been a near-equal negative to negate the Wild from making a major run.

Minnesota has notched two separate four game winning streaks with Torchetti as coach, two more than Yeo was able to get Minnesota to accomplish in 2015-16. Unfortunately, with Torchetti at the helm the Wild have also lost back to back games three times, including a three game losing streak.

One of the most pressing issues for the Wild this season was the streakiness that plagued the team. Yeo’s Wild won three consecutive games four times, but lost three or more consecutive games four times. Regardless of the coach, every time Minnesota has been on the brink of taking the next step, a setback has occurred.

John Torchetti’s coaching has improved the seasons of Erik Haula, Nino Niederreiter, and Jason Pominville, but he has seen Thomas Vanek become a healthy scratch and Justin Fontaine and Jason Zucker decrease in productivity. Another tradeoff in which the Wild benefit enough to gain the extra inch, but fail to make any type of sizeable step ahead from the competition.

It has not been announced whether or not John Torchetti will be back as the Minnesota Wild head coach next season. If his tenure is any indication of GM Chuck Fletcher’s thinking process, Torchetti is an inch ahead of the other candidates, but cannot separate himself from the rest of the pack.

Statistics via War-On-Ice

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